Affinity, a global advertising technology company focused on expanding digital advertising opportunities beyond traditional walled gardens, has announced that it has joined the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) as a Founding Member. The move positions the company among the early contributors helping define open standards for the next generation of AI-powered advertising and agentic media buying.
As artificial intelligence increasingly transforms media planning, buying, and optimization, AdCP aims to establish a common framework that enables AI agents representing advertisers and publishers to negotiate, plan, and execute advertising transactions using a shared technical language.
Affinity has joined Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) as a Founding Member.
AdCP is developing the industry's first open standard for AI-powered advertising and agentic media buying.
The protocol enables AI agents to negotiate, plan, and transact media across advertising ecosystems.
Affinity will contribute expertise in non-traditional advertising channels, including browsers, operating systems, app stores, and AI-powered search environments.
The company aims to help ensure emerging ad surfaces are included in future advertising standards.
Affinity's participation supports broader efforts to expand open, privacy-focused advertising beyond conventional programmatic ecosystems.
The digital advertising industry is entering a new phase where autonomous AI agents are expected to play a larger role in campaign planning, media buying, optimization, and publisher negotiations.
Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) was established to create an open standard that supports these interactions, enabling AI-powered systems to communicate and transact across advertising ecosystems without relying on proprietary frameworks.
The protocol seeks to standardize agentic media buying by providing a common technical language that can be used by advertisers, publishers, and AI-driven platforms across multiple channels.
As a Founding Member, Affinity will contribute experience from advertising environments that have historically operated outside traditional programmatic auction infrastructures.
The company's inventory spans a wide range of digital touchpoints, including browsers, mobile operating systems, television operating systems, app stores, launchers, and AI-powered search and answer engines. These environments collectively reach billions of consumers but have often been excluded from conventional programmatic advertising frameworks.
Affinity believes these channels should play a central role in the development of future AI-powered advertising standards.
"The first generation of agentic advertising infrastructure is being designed primarily by and for the premium programmatic ecosystem. That's only half the picture," said Lavin Punjabi, CEO of Affinity.
"The fraud-free surfaces which billions of people access daily and begin their commerce journeys from are browser start pages, on-device search/AI, app stores, minus one screens, etc. That's an area where two decades of experience with these surfaces gives us something real to contribute to the standard."
According to Affinity, many of the advertising surfaces it supports exist largely outside the display and video advertising infrastructure that has dominated digital advertising for years.
As AI-powered advertising frameworks evolve, the company argues that excluding these environments could limit innovation and reduce opportunities for advertisers and publishers operating outside conventional channels.
By participating in AdCP from its inception, Affinity aims to help ensure these emerging digital surfaces are represented within the standard rather than being added later as secondary considerations.
Affinity's involvement in AdCP will focus on several areas designed to improve interoperability and adoption across the advertising ecosystem.
One area of focus is OEM and browser inventory standardization, where the company will help define how non-traditional advertising environments can be represented within the protocol.
The company will also contribute to demand-supply interoperability efforts, leveraging its position across both publisher and advertiser ecosystems to help ensure the protocol supports the needs of all stakeholders participating in AI-driven media transactions.
These contributions are intended to help create a more inclusive and scalable framework for future advertising technologies.
As AI agents become increasingly involved in media planning and execution, initiatives such as AdCP are expected to play an important role in establishing industry-wide standards. Affinity's participation reflects growing industry interest in creating open, privacy-focused advertising ecosystems that extend beyond traditional programmatic environments and support emerging digital channels.
Affinity Global Inc. is developing privacy-first infrastructure that pushes past today's limits and opens up new opportunities for publishers and advertisers beyond the walled gardens. As a global AdTech company operating across 10+ markets in Asia, the US, and Europe with a team of over 500 experts, Affinity helps publishers discover better ways to monetize and enables advertisers to reach the right audiences through new touchpoints.
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